5 Tips for Retaining Your Customers Forever

Most businesses focus obsessively on acquiring new customers and do little or nothing to retain new ones. Yet, we all know that keeping an existing customer is much cheaper and easier than winning a new one. So, your marketing efforts should be equally about keeping existing customers as they are about attracting new ones.

Here are five smart tips on how to keep your customers loyal forever.

1. Provide quality customer service

Ask most consumers why they're stuck with a business or brand, and most will attribute that to quality customer service. So, to compel your customers to keep coming back for more business, you need to offer impressive customer service by promptly answering customers' enquiries and addressing complaints they might have about your product or service.

To achieve this, you need to train not just your customer service personnel, but all your employees, to give the best customer service and create positive impressions about your business at all times.

2. Follow up with them

Your customer service shouldn't stop at the point where the customer pays and you provide the product or service they need. Rather it should extend to finding out what happens after that.

One or two weeks after each successful deal, send your customers an email or call them on phone to ask if they're enjoying your product or are satisfied with your services. Ask if they were able to achieve what they intended by purchasing your offer. This will send signals that you really care about their life and business, and they'll reward you with their loyalty.

3. Maintain good product or service quality

If a customer is satisfied with the quality of your product or service, chances are they'll remain loyal to your business for as long as you maintain that quality.

One common mistake among small businesses is to reduce the quality of their offers in order to increase profit or maintain low selling prices. This alone has killed many businesses because customers will leave immediately they notice a reduction in quality.

So, don't ever get tempted to compromise on quality. The sweet truth is, most consumers are willing to pay for quality, even if that means paying a bit more.

4. Give them incentives

Everyone loves freebies and bonuses. So offering them to your customers is foolproof way to make them come back repeatedly for more business. You can offer discounts on each purchase as well as free coupons. You can also reward repeat customers with unique and memorable gifts like custom bobbleheads and fancy plaques. And you don't necessarily have to spend Fort Knox, since encouraging loyalty is your goal here.

5. Send newsletters and greeting messages

Another smart way to retain your existing customers is to send them constant reminders about your business. For this purpose, collect their contact details and send them weekly or monthly newsletters via email, SMS, or traditional mail. Use your newsletters to inform them of new products or services as well as discount and promo offers. Also send them helpful tips on how they can get the best of your products and services.

In addition, make your customers feel special by greeting them on their birthdays and special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on. This will send signals that you really value them.

By implementing these five tips, you'll build a strong relationship with your existing customers and retain them for as long as your business exists.

Jimmy Rohampton is a freelance writer, blogger and business consultant from Southwest London. He travels the world and helps people master blogging and online marketing at HowToCreateABlog.org. Think you're interesting and he should know you? Say "Hi" to him at Jimmy@HowToCreateABlog.org